


Candles

by TheHatterTheory



Series: Christmas Presents [1]
Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gift Fic, M/M, fluff ish?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 15:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHatterTheory/pseuds/TheHatterTheory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki has come back to Earth for the holiday season. And no, not to spend it with Tony (but he does anyway).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Candles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KyttWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=KyttWrites).



> I don't own the rights to characters or concepts created and owned by Marvel
> 
> This is for KyttWrites over on tumblr. She asked for Hanukkah FrostIron, and so this happened.

"You're being secretive," Tony said, eyeing Loki from across the room. "And you look-"

"One word about the clothing and I will flay you alive," Loki snapped, hands smoothing down the human coat almost self consciously.

"Touchy. What's going on dude? You've been antsy all week. Ever since you came back from Asgard."

Loki looked ready to say something, then stopped himself. The niggling feeling that had been bothering Tony all week finally got to him. Loki was known for being secretive and quiet when he wanted to be, but antsy was a new one. Whatever he was plotting, it was bothering him, and that was more than enough to worry about.

"Look, you don't have to tell me, I know we're not best buddies or anything. But if you need a chick flick moment or something, I'm generally pretty good at nodding and making comforting noises at the right moments." There, he'd said it without being too obvious, too nosy, or resorting to the 'feelings' talks everyone else seemed so fond of.

"It is the last night of Hanukkah," Loki finally said.

"You're Jewish?"

"No. It's nothing," The frost giant muttered, resuming his pacing.

"If it was nothing you wouldn't have mentioned it."

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're down here in my workshop attempting to wear a hole in the floor and because I have P.O. duty for the night."

Loki made a disgusted sound at the mention of the babysitting duties the Avengers had been put on while he was visiting earth for his 'trial run' at being a normal person instead of a mass murdering psychopath.

"I have somewhere to be."

"No dates tonight hotshot, this is important," Tony told him, reverting back to his normal apathy with ease. Loki wasn't so bad, at least when he was being quiet, but he'd come to Earth from Asgard a little over a week before and been jittery and anxious. Thor didn't have any idea why, and no one else had answers either, only that he'd decided to visit Earth.

"It's important."

"Not this important," Tony quipped, pushing. Because he didn't want to leave the tower just to keep an eye on the giant smurf if he decided to go haywire and level Manhattan.

The next moment he found himself on his ass sporting a headache that felt like the battle for New York had taken place inside of his skull.

"This is more important than that crude hunk of metal you're working on, Stark. I need to be there by sunset," Loki snarled. "And you will come with me so that those dogs do not come in with shackles and guns. Is that understood?"

"Have I ever told you it's hot when you go all dominant on people? I mean, you're just missing the spear and-"

"We're leaving in ten minutes, impudent little ant. Be ready or I will stuff you in the trunk of your car and leave you there to rot."

In a whirl of green and black he was gone, vanishing from the workshop to some other place in the tower.

"Jarvis?"

"Mr. Laufeyson is currently waiting in the garage, sir."

"Fine," Tony muttered, heading out of the workshop and to the elevator.

It took him more than ten minutes to get ready, but in twenty he was strolling through the garage and towards the Porsche Loki was sitting in.

"You look like an obnoxious bluejay," Loki sniffed as Tony got into the car.

"Not the right way to say thank you."

"You're only doing this so I won't lock you in the ridiculously small trunk of this car and drop it to the bottom of the bay. Why should I thank you?"

"Because it's the last night of Hanukkah. Miracles and all that."

The words seemed to affect Loki strangely, quieting him immediately.

"So where are we going?"

"Staten Island."

"We're not going to make that by dark," Tony told him. "Looks like a bust after-"

And suddenly he was freezing, and his ass was wet from sitting in snow. Loki was standing, looking down at his with something akin to smugness.

"You're an asshole." Why did he keep ending up on his ass today?

"Come along, Stark. We're not there quite yet."

Getting up, Tony dusted the seat of his pants and looked around the yard they had landed in. A nice yard, with flowerbeds lined with stone and nothing peeking from beneath the snow, small statues and three different birdbaths and feeders. A normal backyard in a good neighborhood.

"Loki, people tend to get pissed off when you just appear in their yard and walk in their house," Tony tried as Loki walked up the stairs and opened the back door into the house.

"I am known here, Stark. I warn you, not one word about who I am or what occurred three years ago, or I will gut you," Loki hissed, his eyes green ice and narrowed with warning.

"Fair enough," Tony said, shrugging it off. Now more curious than anything, Tony followed Loki inside, surprised to see a normal, suburban house instead of a dungeon complete with torture equipment. Voices were drifting out from a room deeper into the house and Tony could smell food, making his stomach rumble plaintively. Loki cast a disgusted, exasperated look in his direction and continued through the house, walking down the hall and pausing at the entrance to the den, where several people were gathered.

"Stepan," A cheerful voice greeted. "We weren't expecting you!"

"Business has kept me overseas the last few years," Loki lied smoothly, walking into the room. Tony followed, utterly mystified as Loki fell into welcomes with the group of people, all of them presumably family.

"Grandmama is in the kitchen with mama, I'll go tell them you're here," One of the women said, her smile so wide Tony thought it might be hurting her somehow.

"No, I'll go join them. I'm sure Galina is still fond of surprises.," Loki chuckled warmly.

"Are you Iron Man," A child's voice asked, tugging on the sleeve of Tony's blazer. Bending down and ignoring how cold his ass was as the wet pants pressed against his flesh, he smiled warmly and ignored the glare he was sure Loki was sending in his direction.

"I might be, sweetie," He said, keeping his smile bright.

"You're a hero," The girl whispered, voice filled with awe.

"On my good days."

"And you're Mr. Volkov's friend?"

"Sure am," He lied smoothly, making sure not to chuckle even though he wanted to. Loki obviously meant something to the family, and he wasn't going to be the one to inform them that Mr. Volkov was also a frost giant from another realm.

"His grandpapa saved grandmama, so he's sort of a hero too, isn't he?"

"Sure sweetheart. Maybe you can tell me the story while he goes and looks in on her," Tony hinted, looking up at Loki and smirking. Little to nothing was known about Loki, and hell, if a little girl could give him a story, it wouldn't be any harder to believe than him giving birth to an eight legged horse.

"Remember your manners, Tony," Loki suggested, smiling too widely as he moved out of the room and down the hall.

"So what's this about a hero story?"

"It's nothing really, not like you," The girl's mother (he thought Loki had called her Alisa) demurred, blushing as she sat back down on the couch. Tony stood and leaned against the doorjamb, watching the little girl scamper into her lap.

"I'd like to know. I don't know much about his family, so anything new is always a plus," He told her.

"Are you two," Alisa said, stopping meaningfully and blushing.

"Maybe, not sure yet," Tony lied again. "He's a bit wily."

"That sounds like him," Someone else said, laughing as he said it. "But it's the first time he's brought someone."

"Really? Good to know, maybe it's not as long a shot as I was thinking. But, the story? About his grandfather?" He prompted, not willing to go on too long about a relationship he wasn't in, or attempting to be in.

"Mr. Volkov's family is from Russia, like my grandmother," Alisa told him, smiling down at her daughter. "It was, well, my grandmother was a child when the pogroms were officially over, but they still happened, from time to time, especially in the villages further away from the cities. It was winter, just before Hanukkah started, when a mob came to her village. They were, well, you know," Alisa said, gesturing meaningfully to her daughter with a nod. Tony nodded his head, knowing the woman wanted to spare her daughter the gorier details. He knew enough about pogroms to know they were in the 'not good' category.

"Grandmama ran into the snow, like her mother told her to. But it was northern Russia in the winter. She didn't get terribly far. When Stepan's grandfather found her, she was half frozen. She told us he brought her to America in the blink of an eye, but she admits she was ill for the journey. Still, he brought her here, placed her with a good family that loved her. And he would come back every year, until he passed. His son Kirill would come after that, and now Stepan. We've missed him, the last few years. I'm glad he made it, I don't know how much longer, I mean," Alisa said, looking back down to her daughter.

"I am too," Tony said, turning the story over in his head. What the hell had Loki been doing in Russia to begin with? And why had he saved a little girl? "And," He added, looking at the little girl, "That is a real hero story."

"We know heroes!" The child said, bouncing on her mother and earning a pained grunt.

"That you do Valerie," Loki said from behind Tony. "My grandfather and Mister Stark both. Tony, this is Galina and her daughter Vera."

"It's nice to meet you," Tony said, extending his hand to squeeze first Vera's and then Galina's gently. Both women were older, but Galina obviously the oldest, her white hair pulled back into a bun and blue eyes bright in the deep set wrinkles of her face.

"It's good to meet a friend of Stepan's," Galina told him, voice reflecting her smile. "He's usually so mysterious."

"It's a bad habit of his," Tony chuckled, stepping aside to let the women pass him. Loki turned off the lights and followed them deeper into the room where there were several menorahs waited, candles in every holder but the center ones. Dusk had settled, was growing darker into night as Loki picked up a candle. Like ritual, Galina lit it and they both began reciting a Hebrew prayer as they lit the candles in the center menorah.

Then Galina's daughter and her husband came forward and lit their candle from Loki's, reciting the prayer as she lit the candles on another menorah. Then Alisa and her husband lit a candle from her mother's, and as they got close to finishing, Tony felt a tug on his sleeve again.

"This is my first year lighting my own," Valerie confided. "Share with me?"

Feeling a little awkward, he nodded anyway and walked forward with Valerie, not doing anything but standing as she took a candle from the table and waited while her mother lit it. The prayer came out, halting and unsure as she began lighting candles. Once they were all lit she handed the candle to him and he put it in the center sconce, giving her a bright smile. There was enough light in the room that electricity seemed superfluous.

"Please stay for dinner," Galina said, looking at Loki and Tony.

"We'd love to," Tony said quickly, right as it looked like Loki was going to refuse. Galina's face lit up with joy and Loki nodded, smiling back.

Everyone began filtering out, but Tony stayed for a moment, surprised when Galina paused by him at the doorway.

"Thank you. He's never stayed before," She informed him quietly.

"He missed you."

"He's been missed."

"Grandmama!" A voice called out. "Where is the wine?"

"Let's go eat," Galina told him, taking his hand and pulling him toward the sound of laughter and clattering plates.

Sitting next to Loki while people recounted stories of the last few years for Loki, Tony knew he should have felt awkward, but he didn't. Galina's family accepted Loki's presence, and his own, as though they had always been there, were not strangers, or heroes, or gods, or anything other than normal men. Food was passed around and Tony found out he liked hashbrowns (and he stubbornly refused to call them anything else) tasted good with sour cream and applesauce, which would have been disgusting under other circumstances. Loki unbent enough to laugh, relaxed as the evening wore on and wine was passed around.

Valerie began to nod off, and her mother and father carried her upstairs to tuck her in. Vera and her husband pleaded sleepiness not long after.

As Loki made their goodbyes to Galina, Tony thanked her for the meal and gave in to her insistence that he come by the next year as well before slipping out of the room. He stayed just around the corner, listening as Loki told Galina goodbye and bid her a happy holiday. There was a short exchange in Russian before Loki was standing next to Tony, green eyes narrowed.

"Eavesdropping never served anyone well."

"Can't blame a guy for trying," Tony shrugged, refusing to stop smiling as Loki walked through the house and out of the front door. Feeling more full than he had all year and content, he walked next to Loki, stopping when the frost giant stopped on the sidewalk. Tony followed his gaze and saw the menorahs in the window.

"Does she know?" Tony asked, having a feeling he didn't need to specify.

"She does. I think they all do."

"Is it true, what Alisa said?"

"It is, for the most part. I found Galina out in the snow during an attack on her village in 1907."

"She doesn't look that old, you have anything to do with that?"

"An unanticipated effect of the healing she underwent before I found her a home here. She ages a little more slowly than most mortals, but not so much that it will be considered terribly extraordinary."

"And you visit her every year?"

"Except for my time in Asgard, yes."

"Why?"

"None of your business, Stark."

"Look, you just spent three hours being happy and relaxed. Don't start being an asshole now. If you care about her it's fine, I get it."

"I sincerely doubt that," Loki snapped, continuing walking suddenly, his long legged stride eating up the sidewalk. Tony hurried to follow, his footing unsure on the snow and ice.

"You're right, I don't get it because that's the first holiday dinner I've been to that didn't involve a company gala or whiskey since I hit puberty. I figure if you wanted to see her badly enough to drag me along, she must be important to you, and it's nice to see evidence of a soul now and again. Next year I'll make sure everyone stays off your damn back. Now fucking zap us back to the tower, it's cold as shit out here," He snapped, good mood vanishing in the cold.

Loki was looking at him like he'd lost his mind.

"What?" He demanded harshly, hugging himself and damning the frost giant for looking completely unaffected.

Damnit, it was starting to snow.

"I don't want them knowing-"

"I'll say you're getting a booty call or something, or I'll place a decoy tracker in the tower. The tower, please? Unlike some people I'm not equipped to handle freezing my ass off." The shiver that ran through him was not for effect, his teeth beginning to chatter as snow settled on his shoulders, coming down more heavily by the second.

Tony's stomach lurched and the cold disappeared, and he was shaking snow off onto the floor of his workshop.

"If I am still under watch when I return next year, I would, it would be a favor to me, one I would appreciate," Loki told him, halting over the words as though he didn't say them often, which, Tony reflected, he probably didn't.

"Sure, no problem."

"I would owe you something in return," He added grudgingly.

"An answer would be awesome."

"To what?"

"Why were you there, why did you save her, why keep seeing her?"

"There was something in the synagogue there, in the village. The mob came from a neighboring village not far off. Back then, the Jews tended to keep to themselves, for obvious reasons. I was leaving when I felt them approach, all chaos and fire. The water had gone bad in the village's well, and they were convinced a Jew had poisoned it. The village was razed with an efficiency that the Aesir would envy. Back then, we were commanded not to interfere in man's wars, some deal between Odin and the Sorcerer at the time, I think. But I felt her, barely alive beyond the fire the village was. I could save her.

"I have children that are lost to me, Stark. Children that I will only see when our world is ending, ones I couldn't save from Odin's commands."

"But you saved Galina."

"She is the one I could save," Loki agreed. A moment of awkward silence ensued, Tony considering the information Loki had given him. There had been stories, sure, but he hadn't put much stock in them. Until now.

"I'm sorry."

"I do not need pity, Stark."

"I meant for pushing. It's obviously personal for you."

"It absolves me of any debt to you. If answers were all you wanted, then perhaps I have the better end of the bargain," Loki told him, voice stiff. Tony got the distinct impression that the god was lying. "I will be taking my leave of Midgard. Inform my brother that I have returned to Asgard."

"Sure thing. But Loki?"

"What Stark?" Loki snapped impatiently.

"It's not just Galina. She has a family now. All of those people are alive because of you."

Loki's demeanor didn't change, but he nodded stiffly before vanishing.

 

* * *

 

"I can't believe you," Loki snapped.

"What? It's Hanukkah, what's a holiday without presents?"

"They don't expect presents."

"Well I like giving presents," Tony retorted. Ever since Loki had come back and reminded him Galina had invited both of them back (why, Tony still couldn't quite fathom), Tony had taken to the holiday like he had to engineering, which was to say, with enthusiasm and previously unknown skill. "Besides, the labels say they're from both of us."

"Crass. And why did we have to drive? We're going to be late."

"Stop complaining. And we're driving because every time you zap me around I feel like I'm going to choke on my own intestines."

"That's not incentive to stop me," Loki replied dryly as he got out of the car and pulled the box of presents from the back seat.

"Bitch, bitch, bitch. You could be thankful that I got us out of there on time."

"You told my brother you were taking me on a date."

"It shut him up didn't it?"

"He congratulated me and told me not to put out on the first date," Loki quipped dryly.

Tony knocked on the door, still smiling widely. It opened, revealing a smiling, very pregnant Alisa, who welcomed them in, rushing them to the living room where the family was waiting, gathered around the menorahs.

This time, when Valerie asked for Tony's help, he was able to recite the prayer with her, and she didn't sound so unsure of herself. Presents were opened, food was eaten, and by the end of the night Galina insisted they stay under the pretense that they had consumed too much wine to drive. Tony had accepted before Loki could refuse, and they were given blankets and pillows for the couches, sharing the room with the still lit candles.

After the others had gone to bed, Loki walked outside and Tony pushed his feet into his shoes and followed quickly. The frost giant hadn't gone far, was on the sidewalk looking at the front window where the menorahs were.

"You like the lights?" Tony asked, hugging himself and refusing to shiver despite the snow coming down.

"Candles were once left in windows to welcome weary travelers," Loki told him, staring intently at the window.

"Why go outside when you've already been welcomed inside?"

"Some day this will be gone. I want to remember."

Tony was quiet, allowing Loki the time to savor the image of a warm home that welcomed him inside. Despite himself, he was also imprinting the memory, storing it away, because he understood, in some small way, what Loki was talking about. Neither of them were the kind of people that families normally welcomed, that families would think needed welcomed in, housed for a night. Regardless of reason, most people didn't consider that they needed anything. Even if it was only once a year, it was nice to know there was a place he, they, could go.

"Thanks," He finally said.

"For what?"

"Sharing your family with me."

"They're not-"

"They are. And thank you."

"You're acting sentimental."

"I could call you a prick to make it easier to accept."

"It might."

"Well, thanks, Prick."

"Do I get to call you an insufferable nickname?"

"I'd be offended if you didn't."

"Twit. I think it suits you."

"Works for me."

"Awesome Prick, now let's get inside, it's fucking freezing out here and there are two comfy, warm couches waiting for us inside."

Loki nodded and followed behind him as he tried navigating the sidewalk and failed, falling and bruising his backside on the sidewalk. Loki's laughter erupted, unexpected and cheery, echoing down the street.


End file.
